


come back to me (bleeding out in the mouth of the devil)

by wiccaning



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Canon-Typical Violence, Dark Rhys, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Murder Husbands, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:21:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23125432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wiccaning/pseuds/wiccaning
Summary: Come back with meBack to when we were numbJust bleeding out in the mouth of the devilRhys and Jack are a pair; no one without the other. It's symbiotic, comfortable, and they're a force to be reconned with. Until Jack meets defeat again, and Rhys realizes he's not sure if he can be without him
Relationships: Handsome Jack/Rhys (Borderlands)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	come back to me (bleeding out in the mouth of the devil)

**Author's Note:**

> diverges from episode 4 of tales when jack offers hyperion to rhys. yeah. tbh this writing style is So much different then what i normally do so
> 
> violence and shit ya know thats how it be in the land of border

“But say we shared the power I had when I sat in this room. What would you do with it?” AI Jack asks, licking his lips, a hint of something in his eyes. It was a loaded question; he knew this. But Rhys had spent a very long time thinking about just what he would do. Jack continued. 

“So if we could wield Hyperion’s might together, how would you rule? Hypothetical, of course. But still, you’ve gotta know what you want if you’re gonna make it, kid. Like I told you after we escaped Old Haven together. Remember.”

“I know what I’d do. I’d fix Pandora, finish what you started. There’s some people down there who deserve more than it has to offer. What about you, Jack? What would you do if you were back here?”

Jack looks at him silently, expression unreadable. Then he grins. “Guess we’ll have to find out. So answer me this, Rhysie; How’d you like to rule Hyperion. The two of us. Together?”

Rhys answers without thinking. “I’d love it.” Jack’s grin widens. “You’re gonna love this, then, cupcake. Plug me into Helios; I’ve got something to show you.”

An override port, gold plated and shining, comes from the back of the chair, and Rhys feels the familiar shock run through his head as he plugs it in. Jack's image disappears from view and reappears on the screens around the room. The gold, skeletal hand on the desk began to move, and Rhys watched as a room opened, revealing an endoskeleton of the same caliber. The skeleton is encased in a strange blue liquid, reminding Rhys of the containers they keep clones in in old movies.

“See you in a second, Rhysie.” and Jack is gone from the monitors again. Rhys watches in half amazement, half horror as muscles begin to spread over the skeleton. What looks like a computer begins to construct at the top of the skeleton, followed by a golden skull, connecting to the spine. Organs form, connecting to the brain/computer. Skin follows next, forming the scarred face and body of Handsome Jack. The cylinder drains, and clothes cover his body. The container opens, and Jack steps out as a mask falls from the ceiling, and he takes it and clasps it to his face.

Rhys gapes at the sight as Jack inhales, before giving Rhys a devilish grin.  
“God, it’s good to be back.” He says, “Now I can finally do _this.”_ And he’s walking to Rhys, and taking his face in his hand, kissing him hard. Rhys is taken aback before he kisses back harder, biting on Jack’s lip through his mask.

“Shit, Rhysie. You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this.” He growls. Rhys pushes against him as his ECHO goes off. 

“Rhys, where the hell are you?” Fiona’s voice distorts slightly. “Grab the Gortys core and get down here.”

Jack is still pushing against him, but Rhys kisses his neck and pulls away. “Why don’t we continue this after I open the vault for us?”

Jack whines, but he lets Rhys go. “Fine. But I'm bending you over this desk when you get back.”

"Is that how you think that’ll go?” Jack looks taken aback at Rhys’s confidence burst, but Rhys just smirks as he opens the trapdoor. Jack just watches as he descends.

\----

The technology Rhys gets from the vault does more than make Hyperion rich; it makes them skyrocket above every other manufacturer. Jack and Rhys quickly become a team to be reckoned with, and most employees who enter a meeting with either man don’t make it out alive, or without some sort of bullet wound. They’re a symbiotic relationship, no one seeing one without the other. 

Rhys sits on the armrest of Jack's chair as he airlocks people, laughing as he does it. Rhys just smirks and runs a hand through the older man’s hair, sometimes gripping it a little too hard, but Jack doesn’t complain.

Shortly after Rhys takes his spot at the top of Hyperion, he asks if Vaughn wants a space at the top of the ladder. Vaughn seems uncomfortable, and turns him down. He thanks Rhys for the offer, but says he’s fine down on Pandora. Rhys tells him the offer stands if he ever wants to take it. Vaughn says he’ll consider it, but he never does. 

Rhys is a little upset by it; but the disappointment leaves after Jack puts a gun in his hand and lets him take his emotions on unknowing workers down in R&D. Part of him feels bad, these were people with families, lives that he cut off; but most of him lives for the fill of adrenaline as he watches the bodies fall, Jack at his side. 

The blood accumulates on his hands too fast but none of it matters. He’s got Jack at his side, and they’re at the top of the fucking world. 

Eighteen months after Jack's return, he tells Rhys about his plans for a Pandoran town called Sanctuary. When Rhys asks why, Jack's entire demeanor changes. 

“They killed her. It was in cold blood, Rhysie. Only goddamn thing that mattered to me, and they ripped her from me.” His tone is a low growl, but there's a sadness to it that Rhys has never heard before. 

“Who, Jack?” 

“My daughter. Angel. She was 16. She…” Jack trails off and it’s the first time Rhys has ever seen Jack cry. 

Jack is leaning against the desk as Rhys approaches him. Tears try to come through the mask, but are blocked by pieces of metal that help keep the mask in place. Jack moves a little, but does not object as Rhys gently unclasps it. He sets the mask on the desk as tears flow freely, over the blue tinged scar that makes up most of his face. His good eye is blue; and reminds Rhys of the daytime Pandoran sky. The other eye is milk white with broken veins staining it and giving it a pinkish hue, and it makes a break in the eridian scar.

Rhys kisses his face gently. “Then we’ll make em pay, won’t we?” 

Jack smiles a little at that, with a little glint of murder in his eye. “Yeah, we will.”

And so, Rhys has his arm wrapped around Jack's shoulders as he pulls up the profiles of the six Vault Hunters who left his body to rot in the vault. He stops at Zer0, and his hand tightens around the chair’s armrest. 

“Him.” He points. “He took the final shot. I can’t wait to tear him limb from gangly _fucking_ limb.” his voice is full of hatred, more than Rhys has ever heard, and it’s the hottest thing he’s ever heard. He decides not to mention that he’s met Zer0, or the amount of carnage that seemed to follow in the assassin’s wake.

“And the rest of them?” Rhys licks his lips.

“Oh, don’t worry.” Jack smiles darkly. “We’ll take our time with them.”

\---

The first call to Sanctuary kickstarts something else on Pandora. Rhys watches in enjoyment as numerous Vault Hunters scramble around the wasteland, desperate to come up with a plan to take down Jack. Athena has joined them, despite an obvious tenseness between her and Lilith.

He’s draped across the chair one day as Jack enters their shared office, blood on his clothes. He’s grinning with madness. 

“Guess where they’re headed next.” He’s giddy with excitement, and Rhys grins at him. 

“Where?”

“Right. Here. They’re coming for us at the source.” He rubs his hands together excitedly as he approaches the desk. He slides a gun across it, and Rhys grabs it. He plays with it in his hands a little, as Jack comes around the desk, kissing his neck. 

“You and me are gonna have a field day, Rhysie.” He growls, and Rhys grabs him by the hair, hard. 

“Oh, don’t I know it.” and he pulls Jack onto his lap.

\---

The Vault Hunters arrive on Helios a few hours later. Rhys is still just wearing boxers and jack’s yellow Hyperion sweater, blood still staining it from Jack’s visit down to the labs earlier. Jack passes him a drink as they watch the Vault Hunters open fire on Hyperion security. His vest and collared shirt still unbuttoned, showing off the dad bod he denies he has. 

“Now, the fun begins.” He grinned.

Rhys watches as a teenager with pigtails releases a robot with digistruct claws, and the bot tears through Hyperion security like butter. There’s helmeted heads all along the halls of Hyperion; blood stains the walls and floor like a badly done paint job. There’s a couple of Dahl turrets that appear on and off the battlefield, and they fire at workers contained within a ball of purple energy.

“This is getting good,” Jack says as they approach the elevator that leads to Jack's office. He smiles maliciously as they talk, the topic of conversation unknown. 

“What exactly is your plan here, Jack?” Rhys asks. “You’re just going to let them walk in here?”

“They might’ve killed me once, but they’ll never succeed again.” Jack answers. “They’ll die here, covered in the blood of their friends and regret ever messing with me. With us.”

They watch the elevator come to a stop on the monitors. The Vault Hunters exit into the hallway that leads to them, but neither man is worried. The doors had sealed a very long time ago, but both Jack and Rhys had seen Lilith on the battlefield. They’d get in, one way or another. 

Rhys doesn’t bother to get dressed as they phase into the room. Athena sees him in the chair, and he almost laughs at the look of betrayal on her face. Jack just grins from in front of the desk

“Well, well. Took you bastards long enough. And I thought I’d have to head to Pandora to kill you myself.”

Not a single Vault Hunter replies. There’s hatred on all 8 of their faces. Rhys raises an eyebrow when he sees they brought a child with them.

“You guys really brought a child up here?” He laughs and the large, blond, military man steps in front of her as if shielding her. She glares at him

“You wanna talk, pretty boy?” He barks. Rhys just grins. 

Almost every pair of eyes is locked on him. He takes a sip from his drink before deciding to sit on the desk next to Jack, legs crossed.

“Now, I know you suckers came up here to kill me. So go ahead. Hit me with your best shot.” Jack invites. 

The psycho in the room screams, a comment about killing the already dead man. Rhys pays no attention to him. Lilith approaches the desk with a gun, and presses it against Jack's forehead. 

“Take your best shot, _Firehawk_.” He grins, putting as much sarcasm on the last word as he can. 

Lilith takes the shot, and Jack's head whips back. Rhys just watches as Lilith holds her breath, gun in the air. Jack lets his body go limp, before snapping his head back up with an entertained, toothy smile. There’s a bullet hole in the mask, a little bit of blood trickling down out of it, but other than that, Jack is fine. Lilith pales.

“How-” She starts, but Jack laughs over her. 

“That’s going to be a bitch to dig out later, but it was a lovely try.” Jack's voice is patronizing. 

Lilith backs up, the gun back at her side. “So we’re doing this the hard way, then? Fine.” 

It’s a command, and then there’s guns being shot at every angle. Rhys has to duck to avoid getting shot, but a horrible pain runs through his shoulder and he _knows_ he’s been shot. Jack tumbles over the desk, and there’s a few holes leaking blood in his chest, but he’s alive. He’s panting, smiling madly, but he’s alive and Rhys kisses him like he’s never kissed him before. It’s different than how they usually kiss, less hungry, less full of lust and desperation. It’s passionate, soft, and Jack’s got a hand on the back of Rhys’ head, cradling it with more gentleness then he ever has before. They were making out in the mouth of the devil, but it didn’t matter. They were together for a short moment amidst the chaos.

The world slows down as a hand grasps the back of Jack's jacket, and he pulls away, whispering so only they can hear. 

“I love you.” 

And Jack’s been wrenched away from Rhys, and Rhys is being held in the air. A purple hue surrounds his vision, and it feels like he’s being shocked, and it hurts more than the bullet does. His ECHOeye goes dark, but he can still see. 

Army man has Jack by the jacket, holding him by the neck like a mother cat holds a kitten, but with none of the gentleness. Rhys is able to get a look at the people around the room

The military man has a symbol above his right eyebrow; two lines and a triangle. Rhys recognizes as Dahl’s; it registers that he’s a former member of Dahl’s military. 

The siren has short hair, and there’s a book at her hip. Rhys can see, through the purple haze, that she’s the one holding him up. But she’s not focused on her; she’s focused on Jack.

The second shortest person in the room is a man holding two guns. His hair sticks up in a point, and he speaks with an accent that is muffled by the bubble. 

The teenager from before has a metal arm, the elbow pointed, and very obviously homemade. She’s got goggles on her head, and there’s hatred written so deeply into her face it’s almost scary as she looks at Jack. 

The psycho intrigues him the most. He’s got the standard psycho mask, but he’s bigger than any psycho Rhys has ever seen. He carries a buzz axe on his belt, and he holds a gun that looks too small for his hands.

Athena looks the same as before, shield at hand, but she stares at Rhys with such a fury that if looks could kill, he’d be a body bleeding out on the ground.

Zer0 isn’t looking at him. His expression is obviously unreadable, and he’s got a sniper on his back. The blue sword is unsheathed, gripped tightly in a four-fingered grasp.

Finally, there’s Lilith, the Firehawk. He knows her hair is a vibrant red through the purple, and she’s got all her attention on Jack, yellow eyes meeting the green and blue of his mask.

The electric feel of the bubble has dulled, and all Rhys can do is watch as Zer0 hands the sword to the girl with the robot arm and pigtails. He hears her hesitate.

“Really?” 

Zer0 just nods. She grips the sword tightly, and Rhys realizes that she’s crying. She’s got the sword in one hand as she approaches Jack.

“This,” She says, her voice thick and angry. “Is for Angel.” And the sword is being pushed through Jack's chest before either of them can recognize it. Rhys lets out a strangled scream as he falls to the ground. Ex-Dahl guy has dropped Jack, and Rhys crawls to him. 

Jack is bleeding fast, and they both know he won't make it. The sound of electricity crackling can be heard. Rhys kisses him hard, tasting salt and copper on his tongue. Jack plants a hand on Rhys’ cheek so gently he almost doesn't feel it.

“Give 'em hell for me, Rhysie.” He says weakly, and Handsome Jack has died again, in his arms, and Rhys feels the last light of his soul die out. He’s blinded by rage and tears, but he can’t move. 

The blade of a sword touches the back of his neck, and he doesn’t react. 

“Let him go,” Athena says. “He’ll destroy this company to avenge that psychopath. Let him.”

\---

Twenty-four hours after Jack has died, Rhys launches a moonshot on Sanctuary. He watches almost giddily as the city burns, and a pang of sadness fills his chest. He knows how much Jack wanted this, and the loneliness he feels without him beside him is almost burning him alive. They spent so long together, and it was over. Numbness was all he’d felt since Jack's death, settling into his bones and threatening to take him over. 

“How's that feel?” He says bitterly into the ECHO to the Crimson Raiders. “You take away my world, I take away yours. And now _you_ get to watch as _everyone you love_ dies.” 

He clicks the ECHO off and watches as the Crimson Raiders headquarters collapses. People limp out of the building, and Rhys laughs as a piece of rubble crushes someone, splattering blood onto the terrified person next to them. And yet… he sees the light as Lilith phasewalks as many people as she can away from the crumbling city. 

He shouts as he slams his metal hand onto the desk that they used to share. Sanctuary continues to burn, and it burns for hours, before collapsing into a pit of ash and rubble. Rhys watches the whole thing as he thinks about how he’s going to kill each and every Vault Hunter in slow, painful ways. 

\---

That night the numbness leaves, and Rhys sobs into the too-big bed he and Jack spent so many nights in. His side of the bed is empty and smells like him, and every part of Rhys _aches_ for him. The loneliness, the emptiness, the utter _sadness_ combine, and Rhys wants nothing more than to be held by him again; he wants to look at Jack, unmasked and raw, blue scar almost the color of his eye, the color of the Pandoran sky and the AI form Jack had spent so long in. 

Another sob racks his body as he places his face in the pillow. He and Jack were unstoppable, a force to be reckoned with. They were so intertwined that Rhys felt lost; hopeless, and he hoped that if he didn’t get his revenge, he would at least be reunited with him. He sleeps uneasily without the extra weight in the bed, and he doesn't think he'll ever sleep soundly again

\----

A week after Jack’s death, Rhys heads back down to Pandora, Conference Call in hand. The Crimson Raiders have set up shop with Vaughn. Part of him wants to run to his old friend, but most of him wants revenge; nothing but good old fashioned revenge.

The fast travel loads him about 10 meters away from the camp, and he walks with confidence, rage filling his blood. 

No one seems to notice as he enters the camp. He walks up a set of stairs to where the group is huddled. Vaughn stops talking as soon as he lays his eyes on Rhys, and there’s a flicker of hope in his eyes as he sees Rhys that dies as he sees the look on his face. 

Rhys cocks the shotgun. “Sure do hope you’re planning another assault on Helios.” He says.

Everybody in the area turns to him. He grins. “So nice to see you all again.”

“Rhys… what’re you…” Vaughn sounds lost, looking for the friend he knew within the malice and bitterness of Rhys’ tone. Lilith’s gaze hardens.

“Come for revenge on your murdering, psychopath of a boyfriend?” She asks.

“That’s one way to phrase it.” He walks forward, gun held forward. He’s stopped by a blade at his throat. Zer0’s image flickers in front of him. He cocks his head a little, pushing the blade in further, and creating the smallest of cuts. 

“Wait, stop!” Vaughn calls, and Rhys almost feels bad. There’s so much sadness in his voice, and he sounds like he’s crying. Zer0 speaks.

“The friend you knew died. / He was replaced by hatred, / greed. His end is now.” And the blade is pushed further into his throat and he starts to choke. He can feel blood trickling out of the wound. The world starts to fade as the sword pushes into his neck, and the darkness swallows him whole.

Rhys knows he’s dead when he wakes up. The area around him is white, and it goes on forever. He pushes himself to his feet, and he can see him. Jack turns and they’re kissing and Rhys is whole again, back in the place where he belongs. 

Jack holds him tight, and he’s crying when they pull apart. 

“Rhysie.” is all he says.

“I’m home,” he says, and they’re kissing again, and it’s been only a week but Rhys had missed him so much. The emptiness he’d felt when he was alive was gone, replaced with a lightness. Jack takes his hand, and a window appears, showing off the world below. Vaughn no longer looks upset, and there’s betrayal on his face as he looks at Rhys’ body. 

There’s a bit of regret in his chest, but he lays an arm around Jack’s shoulders, and he feels a little better. 

“How come you let him kill you,” Jack asks, bubble disappearing.

“There was no living without you.” 

**Author's Note:**

> i think we should let rhys go apeshit!
> 
> anyways. im on. bird app as @transstriders


End file.
